Using Electrohydrodynamic Deposition for In-Space Manufacture of Perovskite Solar Cells

We have developed a thin film preparation technique utilizing electrohydrodynamic deposition (EHD) for in situ fabrication of photovoltaic (PV) devices during space missions. EHD entails drawing bi-solvent perovskite precursor solution to a substrate via an applied electric field. The difference in vapor pressure between the solvents drives surface coverage in a phenomenon known as Marangoni flow. Aside from deposition technique, the chemical composition of the absorbing and charge transport layers are among the many choices to address when making a PV device. To best direct our research, metrics such as power conversion efficiency and long-term stability were extracted and analyzed through extensive data mining. Key discoveries include the choice of methylammonium/formamidinium (MA/FA) in the active layer, followed by tin oxide as the preferred electron transport layer. This talk will focus on the EHD process, the data analytics, and our results in thin film fabrication.